An aircraft is an assembly of numerous interacting mechanical and electrical components that need to function properly for the aircraft to operate safely. An important step in the manufacture of aircraft is the testing of each component in order to verify the design of the component. The operability of a newly designed component when integrated into the environment of an aircraft is essential to a determination of the viability of the design. Testing of this kind is referred to as "integration" testing. Almost all aircraft components are subjected to integration testing prior to installation in the aircraft. To perform such testing, it is important that the component is tested in an environment that simulates the conditions that will occur during flight. This testing requires that the component receives stimuli which are representative of the stimuli that would be received during actual flight conditions and that the component responds to the stimuli in a predictable and correct fashion.
One method of testing newly designed components is to rely either on flight testing of the aircraft or on system testing when the aircraft is on the ground. Flight testing, as the name implies, involves flying the aircraft in order to ensure that the various components operate properly with each other and that the design of a new component or the new design of an existing component operates as expected. Flight testing, while useful, has limitations. In flight testing it is difficult, if not impossible, to expose an aircraft to all conditions to which it might be exposed in order to observe how the component will respond. For example, environmental conditions such as sudden cross winds cannot be developed on command. Also, complex aircraft, such as modem commercial airliners, comprise a large number of components that are assembled into numerous systems. The complexity increases even more with modem military aircraft. The components and systems must be subjected to numerous test procedures in order to ensure that the design functions properly. It is neither an efficient use of time nor an efficient use of resources to repeatedly flight test an aircraft solely to ascertain whether a specific assembly of components are performing as anticipated. In addition, a number of test procedures involve verifying or determining the operation of the aircraft under potentially threatening or extreme conditions such as high wind, low altitude flight conditions. Testing an aircraft under such conditions can jeopardize the safety of both the aircraft and the flight crew.
The alternative to flight testing an aircraft is ground testing utilizing integration test stations. Integration test stations are distinct and separate from test stations that are utilized for testing during manufacture or subsequent to manufacture for maintenance. One key distinction is that integration test stations are used to verify design and operation of the component being tested in a simulated operational environment, whereas other test equipment is used for verification of operability on equipment or components after validation.
All prior integration testing systems are aircraft specific. In many instances the testing systems are even aircraft version specific. It is highly desirable that an integration test system be available to be operable with multiple aircraft and to be easily changeable from one aircraft to another.